HoR unable to hold meeting regularly as govt has failed to give it businesses

Published On: February 1, 2023 01:00 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, Feb 1: The meeting of the House of Representatives will be held on Wednesday. The HoR meeting is being held after a hiatus of a week.

The House of Representatives has got a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker. But as it will take time to amend the Joint House Rule 2075, now the HoR meeting is set to be left without any agenda.

After the new regulation is introduced, it is necessary to form a committee according to the regulation and send the bill registered in the parliament secretariat to the parliamentary thematic committees for further discussion. The rules also need to be amended in order to start the business of the parliament.

The meeting of the Drafting Committee for the amendment of the regulations has not been held continuously. It is likely that the work of drafting the regulations will be prolonged until the members of the committee are presented, rather than making amendments to the regulations drafting committee.

The committee has been given 15 days to draft the new regulation. But it seems the committee is less likely to complete drafting of the regulation within 15 days. On January 24, the Drafting Committee was constituted.

On Wednesday, according to the possible agenda of program, the letter received from the President's office regarding the allocation of ministerial portfolios to new ministers will be read out, the 22nd annual report of the National Human Rights Commission will be submitted and the Speaker is expected to inform the House of Representatives that there is a vacancy for a member of the House of Representatives according to Article 89 (b) of the Constitution of Nepal.

After Rabi Lamichhane, Chairman and member of parliament of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), lost his position as a member of parliament, the information about his post falling vacant will be announced in the parliament meeting today.

The next meeting of parliament is likely to be only after three days. “There is no situation to call another meeting before February 4,” said a leader of the ruling UML. “The government needs to give the parliament a new business. Since there is no business, there is a preparation to allow parliamentarians to put forth their views during zero hours and special hours in the parliament meeting.”